Ottawa, ON – Today’s consumer price index (CPI) data from StatsCan is devastating for Canadians already squeezed by rising costs of living. Fresh fruit is up 4.4 per cent year-over-year, fruit juice by 4.8 per cent and oranges – that classic Christmas favourite – by 7.8 per cent. Coffee and tea are up by more than 23 per cent compared to this time last year, and lettuce by an astounding 26.8 per cent over the same period.
When looking for the main course, fresh or frozen chicken is up 7.4 per cent, fresh or frozen meat in general by 14.2 per cent, and beef specifically by a whopping 17 per cent year-over-year – bad news for anyone wanting a traditional Christmas roast.
The latest CPI report states clearly that “grocery price inflation is the highest since the end of 2023”, with grocery prices 4.7 per cent higher than November 2024. Even more concerning, food prices are up by 1.9 per cent just compared to October – nearly exceeding the Bank of Canada’s annual food inflation target, and something StatsCan notes was “the largest month-over-month increase since January 2023”.
No wonder Food Banks Canada said that we now live in a country “where hunger is normalized”, with a record-breaking 2.1 million visits to food banks this past March alone, and Feed Ontario reported that fully one out of every 16 Ontarians visited a food bank in 2024-2025.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canadians should judge him by prices at the till. With grocery costs nearly 5 per cent higher than this time last year, the verdict is in. It’s past time to end inflationary Liberal spending, axe the industrial carbon tax and food packaging tax that drive up the cost of food, and make sure that every Canadian family can afford good, nutritious meals this holiday season.